One of the better things to come out of the last Mendip full council meeting (see here) was a verbal reply by the Cabinet member for finance, to my question on the council’s use of Capita-owned enforcement agents (formerly known as bailiffs) to collect Council Tax in relation to people in financial distress. I asked […]

Yesterday (Weds 12th September) Somerset County Council’s Cabinet agreed to make huge spending cuts in over 70 areas of work, despite angry protests from unions, opposition councillors and members of the public. The cuts include: reducing the winter road gritting service from 23 to 16 routes (and not providing grit to any local grit bins), […]

Please see below a question and a motion for Full Council on 24th September. The motion is item 17 (see here), and the question is item 19, of the agenda – see here. The meeting is held in the Council Chamber of Mendip District Council offices, Shape Mendip hub, Cannards Grave Road, Shepton Mallet. To speak at […]

Dear All,  please see below a roundup of news from the ward and local area, and updates on what your councils are doing. This has taken some time, so apologies it has been a long time since the last one. Old Showfield improvements to continue Frome Town Council is planning further improvements to the Old […]

Somerset Liberal Democrats PRESS NOTICE Monday 6th February 2017 Jane Lock calls for more detail in County Budget Liberal Democrat County Group Leader Jane Lock has reacted with concern to the budget proposals put forward by the Tories today at County Hall. Everyone acknowledges that Somerset County Council has a crisis in Adult Social Care […]

The Lib Dem Group of councillors at Mendip are pleased to report that we were able to persuade Mendip District Council to agree to a review of the system for chasing up non-payment of council tax. A successful motion, proposed by Councillor Adam Boyden (Frome College ward) led to a cross-party review into how the […]

This evening I gave the following update to the full Frome Town Council meeting, by email as I could not attend in person:   I and Councillor Claire Hudson have submitted a motion to Mendip District Council to ask that Mendip publicly congratulates Frome Town Council and the people of Frome on Frome’s 2 national awards, ‘Star Council’ […]

Mendip Liberal Democrat Councillors have won a vote to safeguard children and the vulnerable, including those suffering with serious physical or mental illness, from bailiffs in the Mendip Council area. As a result, the Council will now use bailiffs to collect Council Tax only as an ‘absolute last resort’. Furthermore, the tax collection and enforcement […]